2012 British Open Discussion Thread

[nevets88]

Mike Tirico - mentions Japanese player is 5'7". Grrrr.

[brocks]

If Tiger could putt today, he would have been 7 under.

I don't think he missed a putt under 10 feet, and he made a couple or three long ones. His problem was his second shots; he hit a lot of greens, but he didn't get it very close. But it was a very solid round --- easily his best round in a major this year. He only hit one bad shot, the three wood into the junk. And you get the feeling he could easily play this well all week, because he didn't have any lucky bounces. Some guys tied with him or ahead of him didn't strike the ball nearly as well, but kept making long putts or chips. I don't think they'll do that all four days. But other guys were stuffing it, and Tiger didn't do that. McIlroy looks awesome today; one bad drive cost him, but he came right back and drove the green on 16. And now he's just stuffed it on 18. Hard to believe he missed 4 out of 5 cuts in the last few weeks.

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by brocks

I don't think he missed a putt under 10 feet, and he made a couple or three long ones. His problem was his second shots; he hit a lot of greens, but he didn't get it very close.

But it was a very solid round --- easily his best round in a major this year. He only hit one bad shot, the three wood into the junk. And you get the feeling he could easily play this well all week, because he didn't have any lucky bounces. Some guys tied with him or ahead of him didn't strike the ball nearly as well, but kept making long putts or chips. I don't think they'll do that all four days.

But other guys were stuffing it, and Tiger didn't do that. McIlroy looks awesome today; one bad drive cost him, but he came right back and drove the green on 16. And now he's just stuffed it on 18. Hard to believe he missed 4 out of 5 cuts in the last few weeks.

But he did miss a couple of pretty straight putts from within 15 feet I believe.

[Matthew Brett]

Donald was on  almost every green I watched in regulation (besides the 18th) and just couldn't get any to fall.  If he comes out tomorrow the same way ... he could make a charge.

[iPutt]

Some great names on the top of the leaderboard after the first day, I easily believe that any one of them could win. However, I will say that Tiger does have that "gameface" that he usually has when he's playing well. I would definitely keep an eye on him.

Also, I have to say that I'm really enjoying ESPN's coverage of this this year. Very few commercials it seems, many different players being highlighted, and the commentary has been very good. They should get Peter Alliss on more often, and the guys they brought in after him were good as well. Much better than this years Master's coverage in my opinion.

[Spyder]

The Open Championship put out a "slow play" threat earlier in the week. I wonder how many players this affected today, if any?

I see that Kevin Na was sitting at +3. If they make good on their zero-policy for insane slow-play, he should be +12 by tomorrow night.

[Motley01]

Funny video. It reminds of (and looks like) the wacko Brit that tried to ruin Web Simpson's day.

[TN94z]

Here is an interview with Tiger. I didn't see it anywhere on here (maybe I didn't over look it), but at the end it shows the shot he hit out of the divot. That ball was deep!

[TN94z]

I'm not sure, but it sounds like you can hear it hit the guy!!!

[Motley01]

OMG! That sounded like it hit a tree, that was definalty the sound of a ball hitting the poor guys head.

[Spyder]

Bro is sitting there concussed to hell and back and probably doesn't even know he's getting a signed glove.

Personally, I'd say listen... give me a damn Vokey for the goose egg on my dome. Not your sweaty mid-round glove.... He gave one to "Wozzilroy", he can give me one too... shankapotamus!

[RonTheSavage]

Originally Posted by Motley01

OMG! That sounded like it hit a tree, that was definalty the sound of a ball hitting the poor guys head.

Yeah that sounded pretty bad

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Spyder

The Open Championship put out a "slow play" threat earlier in the week. I wonder how many players this affected today, if any?

I see that Kevin Na was sitting at +3. If they make good on their zero-policy for insane slow-play, he should be +12 by tomorrow night.

Maybe it's why Brandt Snedeker had such a good day - that dude wastes no time.

[Snakey]

Go Aussies!!! Adam Scott right up there......so far. John Senden has been solid too.

[Pudderdubber]

I like Bubba Watson.

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by Pudderdubber

I like Bubba Watson.

He was in excellent form today.  I wonder if he can keep it up if the conditions take a shift towards what was expected.

[Hesko Hru]

Well. Maybe you even noticed that most of the long hitters are in the Pgatour. I thinkmthat on average the Epga is much more intersting from playing dinamics than the Usa The only one that is detaching himself from the crowd is strangely Tiger, with the new Sean Foley cut, while somehow he himself was at the origin of that style. I think there is also a strong lobby for courses less long but more technical tha are also saving in terms of property acquisition cost. And definitely the show is on iron and short game more than on bomb ang gauge. From this point of wiew Asia is definitely folowing Europe. Then is also in the material. The new shafts and variable settings are closing the gap between hitters. With the driver i am between 250 and 270 y, but course design is mostly giving at that distance farways bunkers. I mostly have to rely on 3 woods for a good lie. An accurate player will play more from fairway and definitely will have maybe a club longer but much more shot shaping and control. I personally will never give away a good lie for just a club less. Even on par fives.

[turtleback]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

I liked the Bubba Watson interview. He learned from both Tiger and Phil. He liked the way Tiger played and stuck to his game plan and he seemed to get something out of the way Phil struggled yet still found a way to make the cut (i.e. he didn't quit). He's got more than enough skill to hit the necessary shots. The Open is always compelling, but it would be even moreso if the guys currently in the top 25 or so stay there.

The funny thing about this is that for years Bubba used to play practice rounds with Tiger.  When I went to the practice rounds for the Torrey Pines US Open Tiger played with Bubba and an amateur from Stanford.  Maybe Bubba should have paid attention back then?

Originally Posted by bplewis24

I wonder how I'm supposed to work a full day after having been up at 1AM to watch the tournament?

You're in the Pacific time zone I assume?  I feel your pain.  I was just going to watch Tiger's tee shot on #1, but then he made birdie and next thing i knew it was 6 AM and I had watched his whole round.  But since I am a teacher on summer vacation it wasn't quite so bad.  One bonus of watching it live, if you happen to have DIrectv is you could watch the world feed with the English announcers on one of the bonus channels.  I switched back and forth.